


Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Born of Stone

by Bittersong



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pokemon Battles, Stranded, Talking Pokemon, Treasure Hunting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28743522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittersong/pseuds/Bittersong
Summary: Guildmaster Darwin knows that nobody works for him by choice. His exploration teams spend their time digging for a way out of the desert. Each night, the region's borders and landmarks are swept away by sandstorms. However, its underground ruins never change. While out on a mission to collect buried artifacts from these ruins, Team Relic discover a statue that could hold the key to their freedom.
Kudos: 1





	Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Born of Stone

Silence.

Then, an eternity later, unbearable noise. It was loud enough to pierce through the murky veil of death that had claimed him. A strange pressure rattled around in his skull, as if it was being used as a drum for some kind of spiritual ceremony. A song to welcome the dead into their new paradise. He felt a hot spark in his chest. Something had caused his still heart to burst into flames and thump again. Rhythmic beats of pain burned into his extremities, as clumps of mummified blood struggled to slither down his veins. One. Two. Three. His fingertips were starting to surge with warmth. Ascendant sensations caressed across his flesh in time with the percussion of his stirring body. He was being moulded into something much more important. He sent a twitch of panic down to his claws, as unfamiliar concepts lodged themselves deep into his prehistoric mind. To his surprise, his skeleton complied to that demand and twisted.

Memories, hidden under a series of buzzing, neon colours, came surging back. None of them made any sense, even as they flashed into view. Winged monsters hurtled out of the sky and snatched away creatures that he vaguely recognised. He was only offered a glimpse of chaos before the scene morphed into a serene view of the clouds. Part of his vision was obscured by a purple, fibrous wing that had been ripped apart. Each movement from its exposed muscle grew weaker, as they descended to the earth. He crashed into a pit of bubbling darkness, and the veil returned. The events seemed random, like they had been dreamt by some tormenting deity. Although he could remember, he was still ignorant. Alive, but still… gone.

"Hey, Nile? I think you should come over here and see this," echoed a hesitant voice, in an eloquent tongue. One that he had never been exposed to, and yet, he understood every sound.

Silence. For the second time. He got the distinct impression that ghostly figures had breached the veil, intruding upon his ascendance. These faceless spirits were enough to arouse his rage and trigger his instincts. This appetite for violence seemed familiar. Overwhelmed by the desire to be left alone, he mustered a growl and a flex. Something cracked. The drums started to thunder inside of his skull again. The spirits danced like dim projections on the wall of a cave, as their spindly limbs wrapped around his neck. He couldn't retaliate. He believed this torture would continue until the resistant embers of his life were snuffed out. The addictive warmth from earlier started to grow cold. However, the deathly avatars were soon transfixed. Out of the darkness, emerged the colourful rings of an iris. Sky-blue. He was being watched.

"Sunny, this better not be another shard of pottery!" a new voice snapped, markedly more intense than the last. The lone eye shrank away. "Listen, it's cool that there's a rich history behind each of them, but they're just not valuable. We can't carry any more back with us."

"No… it's something more serious this time," the eye replied, prompting the horrific ghosts to dissipate into plumes of smoke. Flecks of ash landed onto his face and stung like poison, but once the pain subsided, he realized that the obscuring veil had been lifted.

"Can we carry it back with us?"

"Please, for five minutes, could you think about more than just treasure?" the eye answered, widening into a stare, brimming with exasperation. "I'm telling you, there's something really weird about this statue! Egan tried to move it earlier, and now it's starting to crumble apart!"

Another crack. This one resonated closer to his ears. What followed was a disgusting feeling of loss, as his stone prison sloughed away like rotten flesh. Crusted eyes shot open for the very first time in his new life, and chalky, stagnant air was sucked powerfully into his lungs. No longer held aloft by a layer of grime and tar, he collapsed onto an ornate platform like a new-born infant. He resisted the urge to retch. His body curled around a chunk of oily rock, and the stench of mould grew stronger. White claws scratched violently at his skin, trying to remove the fouled layers of muck. He realised they were his own. He attempted to stand up amidst the globs of debris from a time long forgotten. Terrified creatures came spiralling into his view as he lurched forwards. He noticed a blue crocodile with large jaws standing at the base of the pedestal, who stumbled out of sight. Much closer to him, was a tasselled lizard. Their sky-blue eyes widened with fear and amazement. Even though he had never once seen such peculiar creatures in his life, he somehow understood that they were not entirely alien. Foreign names began to prod at his sluggish mind, as he descended the platform, caught in a delirious urge to escape. The one who left was a totodile. The one who stayed… helioptile.

"Didn't the Guildmaster say something about statues?" the electric type asked, whirling over to address the shadowed cavern. This was a place devoid of warmth and sunlight. The yellow creature took a few confused steps back from the pedestal and dropped a pouch of baubles. His advance was halted, as he stopped to examine them. "Egan! Over here! I need some light!"

Before he could move another inch, an orange salamander that brandished its own tail like a weapon came fearlessly running out from a crevice. Everything got brighter, and the change was enough to send him reeling back to the broken stone. This one controlled the sun. The charmander gripped onto its tail and bared its small fangs, causing the miniature sun to roar and flare into an intimidating pillar. Finally, something he understood. The fire was a threat.

"Sunny, get out of here!" the charmander roared, diving to the pedestal. "It's gonna attack!"

Everything happened in a bloodthirsty blur. The charmander pushed its hesitant ally to the side and puffed up its chest, which glowed with the illustrious beginnings of fire and magma. Black smoke, littered with popping embers, billowed out from its mouth. These creatures had interrupted his ascension to the afterlife, and that was unforgivable. He rushed forwards on unsteady legs and braced his rock-hard skull for an impact with the flaming intruder. This reaction felt instinctive and pleasurable, like he had done it thousands of times before. Memories of denting trees and crushing bone joined the other ones and reassured him that the charmander could not endure the force behind his skull. However, before he could reach his target, the cavern was swiftly ignited with twirls of smog and fire. Spatters from the flame licked unbearably against his craggy hide. The smooth dome on his head managed to diffuse most of the damage, but as the short-lived embers melted into his flesh, he altered his course. He could not approach the fire type from this direction. Narrowly, he avoided crashing into a stalagmite and planned to utilise the creature's blind spot. However, the cave was blanketed with a hot cloud that stole the air from his chest. Through watery, stinging eyes, he peered under the smoke, only to find that both of the pokémon had vanished. Pokémon. Another odd word.

He would lose his prey if he paused now. Second by second, knowledge gained in his old life was coming back to him. His rugged lips curled upwards at the prospect of a successful hunt, as it felt like his stomach had been empty for millions of years. He fought against the burning smoke to chase the group down the only corridor in sight. Adrenaline punched at his temples, as his resurrected body struggled to handle his desires. He kept focusing on the sound of his claws colliding with the ground, to drown out feelings of confusion related to his existence. He had been resigned to eternal darkness mere moments ago, but now he was revitalised, with the earthly sensations of hunger. Such things could not be indicative of a true paradise. Perhaps he had struck a bargain with death itself and was given a second chance to continue a simple life. Maybe his fate was to forever hunt down prey across these winding pathways.

He was getting distracted. For being such small, fleshy creatures, they had escaped his grasp with such ease that it was infuriating. He had been running for so long that his raptorial feet were beginning to ache and seize. The useless air inside of these tunnels sapped his strength and dampened his lust for a successful kill. They all must be experienced with these passages, so he was at a disadvantage. He was from a tribe that spent all of their lives above the ground, only venturing into caves to escape attacks from the… winged monsters. He stopped running.

"Okay, we need to try and make it back to the main chamber…" echoed a faraway voice. Such a muffled sound lost complexity as it bounced against the walls, so he could not discern which creature it belonged to. Immediately, he crouched and pressed an ear into the ground. "We've spent almost an entire week exploring this area, and that rucksack is all we've got to show for it. I'm not gonna let some booby-trapped statue scare me into abandoning our loot!"

"Nile, we're running dangerously low on supplies now," countered a different, unsure voice. "If that thing ends up injuring one of us, I doubt we'll make it back to the Mouth alive. The only Oran berries we have left are rotten and mouldy. We could always use the Escape Orb, but there's no guarantee that it will work at this depth. Do you really wanna take these risks?"

"Listen, everything we do down here is risky. That statue is no different than the ferals that we deal with, so I'm going back to defeat it," insisted a braver voice. "I'd feel safer with Nile there since it seemed to shrug off my fire attacks, but I'll even go in there alone if I have to. We didn't get a chance to explore the rest of that chamber, and the statue could be in there to guard something rare or valuable. All of these converging pathways mean something."

"Do neither of you remember? Guildmaster Darwin told us to end the expedition if we came across one of those statues," replied the second voice. "But, if you really want to go back in, then we all go together. As a team. Splitting up was the first thing we were taught to avoid."

"Everything's sorted out then!" decided the first. "Sunny, you prioritise getting the loot back. Egan, if that statue is still in there, distract it with a good Smokescreen. I'll hide somewhere and charge up a water attack to take it down. Whatever it is, it won't appreciate getting wet."

"Just don't flood the entire cavern like last time, okay? Try to keep in mind that I've got my flame to worry about. Let's hope that it's dumb enough to leave you alone and focus on me."

"If we make it back to the Oasis alive, it'll finally prove that Team Relic aren't just a bunch of rookies to be forgotten about down here! Come on, what do we say in times like these?"

"Uh… should we really do the cheer right now, boss? The statue might be somewhere close-"

" _ **Let's keep our eyes on the prize!"**_

He was certainly intelligent enough to not let their weak plan come to fruition. Astoundingly, he understood the value of surprise. He felt acutely more aware of complex tactics, as if his sudden rebirth from the stone had granted him a larger brain. It must have been the result of the same power that allowed him to understand the foreign sounds spoken by the creatures. The ethereal voice of reason inside his skull also spoke in such a way, and even though all of his memories were disjointed, he was aware that it was a new presence. This sentience made him highly dangerous. Throughout their conversation, he had been stalking across the tunnel, keeping his head low and steady. Expertly, he judged the short distance between them by the volume of their cheers and determined them to be behind a wall. The surface was brittle and cracked, and couldn't have been more than a couple inches thick. He used their last outburst of confidence to conceal the sound of his claws rending the rocky wall asunder. He exploded out from behind the rubble. His keen eyes adjusted in an instant and locked on the helioptile.

Again, the charmander was the first one to react. It shielded the startled, yellow lizard as they were both pelted with shards of broken slate. The fire type shouted about recovering their lost treasure, and its booming voice shocked the smaller creature into action. After giving them a brief, displeased look, it bounded down the tunnel in the opposite direction. Trinkets and baubles were none of his concern. He could always hunt down the straggler after ensuring the other two beasts were eviscerated. He just needed to strike before they could charge attacks. While he had been watching the Helioptile disappear into the inky darkness, the charmander seized the opportunity to scratch at his armoured head, to little avail. The fire-breather's tiny claws bounced against his large dome rather than slicing through, and the dismayed creature let out a yelp as it clutched its hand. An opportunity. He didn't have the open space for a headbutt, so sinking his fangs deep into the valiant creature's neck would need to suffice. He longed to experience the sweet, yet acrid, taste of blood again. Such a desire lessened his judgement, as the voice inside his head screamed to focus on the totodile, crouched next to a spire. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't tear his attention away from the meaty flesh. The disembodied voice of reason had been silenced, replaced only by a threatening rumble.

"Hey – daredevil! Get down on the ground and stay there!" the hidden crocodile ordered, soon before its enrapturing throat began to bulge outwards, like a grotesque frog. "Now!"

As soon as the loud, commanding words left the totodile's jaws, the charmander recoiled and rolled onto the floor. Fragments of rock pierced into the creature's leathery hide, ushering forth the precious droplets of blood that he lusted after. He couldn't take his eyes away from the beautiful sight. He barely noticed the charmander curling around its own tail and protecting it with quivering hands before a trickling sound filled the tunnel. The quiet noise finally allowed him to wrench back control of his own body. Ignoring his primal instincts, he attempted to flee back through the scarred hole he had made in the wall. From his many days spent taking shelter under storms, he knew the sound well. Water droplets.

He failed to reach the threshold in time. A violent torrent of foul-smelling liquid blasted into the side of his torso. It struck his body with such force that he was launched into the air and pinned mercilessly against the upper wall of the cave tunnel. Members of his tribe had warned him of their vulnerability to water when he was still a hatchling, but he hadn't expected the substance to rend and tear at his petrous skin like it was cotton. The fluid was so frigid that it felt boiling, and the stream gushing forth from the totodile's jaws was endless. He struggled to breathe through submerged nostrils, layers of dirt shredding off of his body and turning the water a dark brown. He felt helpless. So incredibly helpless that something indescribable was rising from within his revived core. An overwhelming need for survival. He had experienced death before. Not again. Never again. This spurred his tongue to contort.

"Stop… please!" he spluttered. The water flooded inside his open maw and drowned the other words that he desperately wanted to say. The language of his tribe had vanished from his knowledge, replaced by these unfamiliar sounds. He wailed with anguish at the thought. His lungs swelled, as he clawed pitifully at the powerful flow of the Totodile's internal fluids.

"Wait, you can talk…?" the charmander whispered. Such a revelation caused the sizzling fire on its tail to flare and brighten, as it stopped cowering on the ground. The dauntless creature crawled towards the Totodile and waved its arms frantically. Its tail was left defenceless and flickered in response to the watery mist. "Nile, stop the Hydro Pump already! It's not feral!"

At the hurried request of its companion, the totodile snapped its jaw shut, cutting off the volatile stream of water. Droplets of saliva raced their way down its defined chin, as it teetered uneasily on one foot. It was almost knocked off-balance by the drastic shift in pressure and held onto the spire for support. A final deluge crashed into him before he impacted the ground below with a sickening crunch. His skull cracked against the wet floor of the cavern. The durable, bony protrusion made several splits into the floor that travelled outwards, like a lightning strike. His ears were ringing, and his empty belly twisted itself into horrible knots. The motion was enough to send mouthfuls of acidic water back up his throat, which joined him on the ground. At the very least, his stomach was void of food. Cautiously, he looked up at the boundaries of the cavern. His skull could have triggered an earthquake, and they would then be buried under tons of dirt and stone. However, the walls remained still.

"Hey, it does look more like a pokémon now, doesn't it!?" the totodile exclaimed, waddling towards his limp body. He suppressed an instinctive growl and allowed the curious creatures to approach him. Survival was the most important thing in this new life, not his archaic pride.

"Well, it's definitely not a statue," the charmander said, wincing at its shallow wounds as it stumbled to its feet. It pressed a heated palm onto its soft underbelly, that had been sliced into by a shard of stone. "Then again, it's not a pokémon that I've ever seen. Sentient ones aren't supposed to live down here, according to the Guild. What is it doing so far from the Oasis?"

"There's no harm in asking!" the Totodile decided. A glint of interest flashed across its eyes, as it crouched down to inspect him. "Hello there, uh, angry statue! Can you understand me?"

"Yes. Somehow," he replied, after a lengthy pause. He spoke through bared fangs, struggling to find the correct words. They sounded hollow and unnatural. This language was something that was never meant to inhabit his brain. The totodile flinched slightly at the grating noise.

"Okay, so, what in Arceus' name is going on? How did you wind up trapped this far down?"

"I was being hunted…" he began. His memory was still fogged and obscure, even as more and more pieces started to slot together. "After my tribe was ambushed by flying monsters, I was dropped from the clouds. Everything went dark. You awakened me… or, saved me, from bringers of death that had no faces. Charmander, you breathed fire at me. I defended myself."

"Right, I got about a quarter of that," the charmander replied. "Listen, are you sure that you didn't hit your head too hard there, buddy? If you're injured, we can take you to the Oasis."

"Nothing damages my head. My tribe are known for the strength of their skulls," he scoffed, even though he had started to cough bloody mucus across the cavern floor. The crimson fluid oozed into the cracks that he had made in the earth. "Your questions confuse me. I am telling the truth. These walls are unfamiliar. You creatures and the words you speak are new to me."

"How did you know that I'm a charmander, then?" it sighed.

He couldn't give a response.

"Whatever the case is, you're an oddity that the Guild will appreciate!" the totodile grinned, wiping at its jaw with a scabrous hand. These creatures were covered in injuries. Some of them looked to be fresh, while others had faded with time. They didn't belong down here, either. It seemed like they were intruding upon these caverns, searching for valuable items. "Really though, we just watched you break out of that statue like it was a shell. From how easily you went down to a water attack, you must be a rock type. Egan, do they hibernate?"

"Sunny's the one you should be asking," the charmander said, looking down the darkened tunnel for its other companion. It wielded its tail and pointed the flame over to the wall. There was no sign of the helioptile. "She's the one with a good memory. I'm willing to bet my last berry that she knows something about this guy. Once she gets back here with the loot, we're leaving this place. We're close to one of Laplace's trails, so it'll be an easy trip back."

"Can't we stay here a bit longer?" the totodile pleaded. "Now that we've solved the mystery of the angry statue, there's nothing that can stop us! The central chamber should be really close."

"Since our new buddy seems to have some kind of head trauma, I would recommend calling it quits here and resting for a couple of weeks," the charmander responded, after reaching back down to offer him a steadfast hand. He hesitated for a moment. Members of his tribe believed that accepting help from outsiders was a sign of weakness. However, most of their teachings were meaningless now. He wrapped a weak, bloodied claw around the fire type's fingers, and was stunned at their warmth. Soon, he was upright again. He felt light-headed from hunger. "Although, you're the one with the final say, boss. Just remember how badly the Guildmaster chewed us out when we ignored that Eevee. Your nose for shiny things gets us into trouble."

"Okay, okay, you're right," the totodile conceded. "Better make a good first impression now, so that we get a nicer review. Ahem… hello, statue! My name is Nile, and I'm the captain of this exploration team. You have nothing more to fear, as you are safe in our capable hands!"

"Ugh… just ignore him," the charmander whispered. The admirable pokémon must have recognised his exhausted state, as it reached into a small, beige-coloured bandolier kept by its waist. Carefully, it pulled out something that he was able to recognise. The flesh of an apple, though it had been stained a pungent brown with age. For some reason, he felt close to tears. "Here, this should keep you on your feet until we get back to the surface. Most things don't stay very fresh down here, so it's the best I can do. I'm Egan, by the way. You got a name?"

"Names are another concept that is foreign to me," he replied, after sinking his teeth into the soft, mushy pulp of the fruit. It helped him to ignore the ramblings of the Totodile in front of him, who was continuing his unusual speech. "They were not included in my new brain."

"Uh… alright, don't worry about it then," Egan said, forcing an uneasy smile. Every couple of seconds, his eyes would dart towards the crater made in the wall, as if he was expecting another enemy to come leaping out of the darkness. From his earlier actions, it was obvious that his heroics were the main reason behind the group's success. "Nile has decided to keep referring to you as a statue, but that's just because he's socially inept. We have to call you something for now, in case we get separated. Sunny's good with names. She'll think of one."

"Hey! How long have you two been whispering over there?" Nile snapped, pointing over at them with a stubby, crooked finger. His accusatory tone echoed all the way down the tunnel. "Statue, it's important that you listen to the rules of the underground! Now, as I was saying-"

_Skraaaaaw! Skraaaaaw!_

The sound that echoed back did not belong to a creature of their size. The remnants of Nile's sentence bubbled out as a frightened groan. Everyone froze, as the cavern had suddenly been plunged into near-darkness. In the time it took for his sensitive eyes to acclimate, dread had already settled inside of his heart. The cry was familiar to him and brought back memories of staring fearfully at gaps in the clouds. He tried to swallow a thorn that stabbed into his throat and paralysed his tongue. He had to warn the others of the terrible malice that was to follow. Even though this land was without sky, the monsters were here. His attention moved to Egan. The charmander shuddered and stared back at him. Their complicated language failed him, so he could only offer the fire type a traumatised grimace. That was enough to snap them out of a trance. Egan slapped frantically at the end of his tail, trying to brighten the flame again.

"What the hell was that…?" Nile gasped. He had been the only one with enough confidence to speak his mind, but his body was trembling. "Statue, you didn't make that noise, did you?"

_**Skraaaaaw! Skraaaaaw!** _

Closer, this time. The sound was unmistakable. Panic seized his brain, as he prepared to flee back into the hole in the cavern's wall. Even though this tunnel was very narrow, the flying monsters would stop at nothing to reach their prey. He had been taught how to avoid their onslaught for as long as possible, but these pokémon were clueless. They would only slow him down if they were to escape together. They mentioned something about trails that were left in the underground. He could follow these markings to find an exit, while the monsters picked off these inexperienced creatures. He bared his fangs. Egan had shown him kindness, but survival mattered much more than sentiment. Survival, above all else. He started to run.

"No – wait!" Egan shouted. A whirlwind of flames sprang to life from the charmander's tail and illuminated the cavern. He would not be swayed. "Stay here, please! We'll protect you!"

He only managed to take a few strides, before a yellow flash barrelled out from the hole and knocked him down to the ground. A myriad of glittering items spilled across the cavern, as he was locked into place. He struggled against a sea of coins and gemstones. The final object to fall aside was an empty, brown pouch. Twitching sparks of electricity pinched at his skin, as his attacker kept him pinned into the dirt with surprising strength. Rattled, he tried to swipe at the creature on top of him. He realised that it was the helioptile from earlier, right before his claws tore into the flesh on her neck. She seethed with pain, but her grip would not loosen. With reptilian agility, she vaulted away from his arms. Her injuries painted him with blood. He snarled and foamed, as her hands wrapped tightly around the spikes adorning the back of his head. She dragged him away from his only chance at freedom. She had just killed him.

"Nile, you need to get us out of here, right now!" she screamed, keeping him restrained with all of her might. "There was a huge statue, at the entrance to the central chamber! It's alive!"

As he desperately stared into the fissure, a set of gargantuan teeth emerged from the darkness. They gnashed together. The entire tunnel began to shake, as clouds of dust rained down upon them from the disturbed ceiling. Tremors knocked Egan and Nile onto their knees. He could only watch on in complete horror, as a snout pushed its way into the narrow, collapsing cave. If the helioptile had failed to drag him away, both of them would have been cleaved in half by its powerful jaws. The flying monster sent blasts of miasmic air out from its nostrils, as it tried to ravenously devour them all. Then, it shattered the wall of slate into countless pieces. These brittle fragments temporarily blinded the monster and granted them a few more precious seconds of life. More and more of its prehistoric body was revealed, as it pushed its winged arms into the cavern. He couldn't focus on the panicked screaming from the others. Once its claws came dangerously close to tearing his head off, he finally understood why this monster had followed him. One of its wings had been torn. It was the one from his memory. They had both fallen into the pit of darkness together, and now it was here, wanting revenge.

"Someone needs to use the Escape Orb! I'm holding this thing back!" Egan yelled. His voice, brazen and determined, was barely audible over the sound of grinding teeth. He staggered in front of him, with his arms outstretched. He was shielding him from the monster's approach.

Egan managed to firmly plant his feet into the ground, even as it tremored. He motioned for the two of them to join Nile in the furthest corner of the tunnel. He took in a heavy breath that stoked the flame on his tail into an inferno. Sunny's body heaved with stress, but she dragged him away from the charmander, as all of their surroundings were ignited in a wild explosion. Even though the tunnel was damp from Nile's earlier attack, it didn't take long for objects to catch on fire. It was difficult to find a single breath, even when they had reached the furthest distance away from the flames. The oxygen in the cavern had been depleted in mere seconds. Egan basked in the wildfire that he created, before spitting a volley of embers into the face of the flying monster. The nightmare retreated for a brief moment, stunned by the intense heat. However, much like his own body, the fire did not singe its rugged hide. It roared with agitation.

"Alright, I've… found it!" Nile responded, choking from the smoke. The three of them had been backed into a wall, and the flames were only getting closer. He rolled a large, cerulean sphere across his hands. It sparkled with a lustrous sheen. "I'm smashing it! Hold on, okay!?"

Egan couldn't be heard anymore. A dense blanket of smoke had settled over the cavern and incinerated any sounds that attempted to pass through it. His lungs were burning, and it took all of his remaining strength to keep his eyes open. He struggled to watch while the totodile lifted the Escape Orb high above his head. The water type's resolve seemed to weaken from the lack of a response. Left with no other options, he shattered the glowing sphere on the ground, just as the flames started to consume them. A heavenly light poured from the shards. The other pokémon surrounding him melted away into rippling waves. Everything went numb.

Seconds trickled by, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

He was reminded of his death. The terrifying sensations that came with falling from the sky, and not knowing when his body would land. The fabric of the world started to unravel and weave into a different pattern. He was tugged alongside this shifting tapestry, with one of its infinite threads wrapped around his ankle. However, this time, he was not falling towards a bubbling pit of darkness. Other bodies joined him in this new journey, and they soon became tangled up amongst his thread. Eventually, they landed into a turbulent sea of golden stones.

The sun had returned and reassured him that he was safe. He was content never to open his eyes again. Weight slowly returned to his claws, as they began to sift through grains of sand. Purified air replaced the smoke that had poisoned his lungs, and for the first time since his awakening, he was grateful to be alive. He had missed this feeling of the breeze on his skin, but it wasn't enough to stave off his exhaustion. He felt his consciousness slip further away.

"Is everyone alright?" a voice asked. "Statue, are you here?"

"Yes. Somehow."

"Great! That means we can get an extra reward from the Guild. Sunny, are you here?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Woozy, and unable to move a muscle, but… here."

"Don't worry, the side effects should only last a couple of minutes! Egan, are you here?"

They waited.

"Egan, are you here?"

The silence was enough to force his eyes back open.

"… Egan!?"


End file.
